Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audiobook on their brand new app!

This story lends itself well to being listened to. Both narrators were able to make me feel I was listening to the actual characters and conveyed their emotions in a faithful way. The actual listening experience could have been a little better because I could only speed the audio up to 2x and no faster, otherwise, the track started skipping and getting distorted and robotic.

As far as the plot goes, I wasn't overly impressed with its resolution. I really liked the set up, the atmosphere, the characters, and the development of the story, but the plot twist in the middle felt unearned, like I had been lead to believe something was one way without any hints that it wasn't until it was revealed. Or maybe I missed them because I'm dumber than I think, but my feelings are the same. I also found the ending unsatisfying because of how mundane everything ended up being, as much as I enjoyed the "full circle" aspect of it, the utter lack of actual paranormal things made me feel cheated out of something. Not to minimise the actual tragedy of people making bad choices, children getting hurt and becoming awful, but still, with all the talk about ghosts and lucid dreaming, I expected more than what I got.

All in all, I still had fun while I read it, and I really enjoyed the author's writing style. I had Whisper Man in my TBR already and I'll definitely read it soon.

When Paul’s classmate, Charlie, becomes obsessed with the idea of Lucid Dreaming and an entity called ‘Red Hands’ he creates a deadly chain of events that effects multiple lives. Decades later Paul returns to his home town spurred by his deteriorating mother’s senile words and unanswered questions.

This audio had alternating POVs between Paul and the detective on the case. The narrations were well done and I definitely enjoyed the accented cadence of each voice being represented. I have to give Heffernan credit for setting the atmosphere surrounding Paul’s childhood exceptionally well. His narration brought a sense of foreboding that I thoroughly enjoyed. Had a Slender Man vibe to it that I liked.

The story itself was a well laid out suspenseful thriller. Unique twists and not as predictable as most. Some areas where a little fast paced in their unveiling and I kind of feel that it came to an abrupt close rather suddenly after all of the buildup in the beginning. Especially when the main revelation comes all at once. There’s a few questions I still have lingering that I will probably hound my book buddies on but overall I did enjoy this atmospheric narration.

Would I say I was scared or creeped out? Probably not so much but I was engaged and entertained throughout the entire audio. I like the fact it ties a little into his first novel and has elements like lucid dreaming. I’d definitely recommend to readers who enjoyed his first novel and anyone who likes a suspenseful thriller.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this advanced audio copy for an honest and unbiased review.

Alex North does it again with The Shadows! This was an interesting story to listen to - with multiple narratives, it could have been confusing but having several voices made it easy to follow. The creepy factor is off the charts and the ending completely surprised me so if you're looking for a thriller that will give you chills, give this one a listen!

Soooooo creepy!!! But what a thrilling ride. The narration is perfection. The tone just adds to the element of creepiness.

I hadn’t read the author’s other book, so I was unsure what to expect. It takes me longer to get through audiobooks usually, but this one had me compelled to listen from the first sentence.

I will definitely pick up his first release...and any future ones!!

I really wanted to enjoy this story. The narrators did a great job at keeping the story engaging however by the end, I just kept waiting for something bigger. The characters really felt under developed and none of the supposed plot twists were particularly thrilling. If I had been reading this rather than listening, I think my rating would be lower.

I really wanted to love this. I loved the Whisper Man and thought The Shadows would keep me on the edge of my seat.

I didn’t get that here. There were some creepy moments and disturbed characters, but I didn’t feel tense reading this.

The ending seemed a bit rushed and I had a hard time keeping characters straight, especially in audiobook format. I kept wanting to love this but really just found that it fell a bit flat.

I was granted an audiobook arc of this by NetGalley for a fair and honest review
I really didn't like this book. The writing was fine and even ominous at times, but I never cared what happened to our characters. What's more, the threat never felt real. When you try and walk this line between the natural and supernatural it can come off as tacky (in my opinion). Examples of this done well would be The Haunting of Hill House, the Yellow Wallpaper, or even a Head Full of Ghosts. When it is done poorly, it all just feels like the threat we are supposed to believe in has no weight. That coupled with the characters I had not interest in made a for a very boring story.

Many people compare this to Stephen King. I can see that in some of the style. However, it fails in one key area. King's books can be overly long and difficult to get through. Personally, I still love the process because it is always character focused. King makes you care for the people in the story. Whether it's love or hate, he makes your feel for them, and when his stories start to drift to no one, it almost doesn't even matter because you're doing it with these characters you love reading about.

That is the key failure with this in my opinion. Well, that and the threat which never felt real enough or satisfying.

It also doesn't help that I didn't like the narrators for this. The male narrator is worse than the female. Part of it is the lack of variety for voices, but it is bigger than that. While they have the necessary inflections in tense moments, it still never pulled me in. Normally, even a bad story can be fun with a good narrator. For me, this didn't have either of those things.

Narrator’s were super engaging and I had to know what was going to happen next from the beginning. I could not stop listening!

Gripping and creepy in equal parts, The Shadows starts off as a pretty grisly horror novel with supernatural elements, but gradually morphs into something hopelessly sad and unexpectedly mundane. The book ends up with an answer for everything, leaving no loose ends or room for interpretation, which makes it all the more impressive that I was just as in the dark as the book's main character throughout this decades-spanning story.

As a child, Paul Adams falls in with a quartet of friends led by Charlie Crabtree -- a boy who claims to be able to affect the real world through dreams. This alone is creepy enough; Charlie seems ripped straight from Village of the Damned and revels in the black magic he's able to bring to life through his dreams. Even worse, he discovers in his lucid dreams a supernatural entity named Red Hands who is eager to meet the boys.

After Charlie teaches his three friends how to join him in a shared dreamscape, their hazy joyriding results in some real world murders and the mysterious disappearance of Charlie.

After Paul narrowly escapes prosecution in the aftermath of the murder, he leaves his hometown as soon as he's old enough to do so. And now, after a 25-year absence, Paul Adams finally returns to say goodbye his dementia-addled mother in hospice care. Almost immediately, callbacks to his childhood start popping up, including some bumps in the night and what appears to be a copycat killing.

I'm going to stop there, because my favorite thing about the book was the way it meted out little bits of information. There's a logical explanation for everything. And holy smokes, the explanations are tragic.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free copy of the book in exchange for a review.

The Shadows, one of my most anticipated new releases for July. I tried to get an advanced copy from Celadon books but didn’t manage to snag one, but it was one of the July picks from Book of the Month, so you know I put that in my box.

Alex North, a pen name, published The Whisper Man last year. I really enjoyed North’s mix of mystery and suspense combined with just a touch of the paranormal. His books fall under the horror genre as well, but I find these to be less horror and more on the paranormal/suspense side. Regardless, I really enjoyed The Whisper Man, you can see my review for it HERE, and knew I would enjoy this one.

This book, while not a sequel to The Whisper Man, takes place in the same environment but a town over. We also once again meet, Detective Amanda Beck who is assigned to investigate a gruesome murder that shockingly resembles a murder that happened 25 years ago. I really enjoyed the slight cross over between this book and The Whisper Man, but I also really liked the fact that they’re both completely separate stories. You don’t need to read one to read the other.

The narrative within the book jumps around between past and present but also between Amanda and Paul. We get a really good glimpse into both characters especially in Paul’s life, which was highly influenced by the events that happened 25 years ago. He’s not the most likeable character at first and could possible be seen as a unrelatable narrator. It’s the first time he’s been back home since he initially left more than 2 decades ago and he’s only back because his mother is dying. When those involved with the original murder start to be found murdered, Amanda isn’t sure whether Paul is behind them or if he’s the next victim. Regardless, the different perspectives between them adds a whole extra level of mystery.

Another huge aspect of the plot is Lucid Dreaming, which after I read this book, you can guarantee I started to research it a bit. It was really the most unsettling piece of the story for me and gave the prose the creepy atmosphere that adds to the suspense.

North once again has given us a truly suspenseful real. Maybe I don’t scare as easy as I thought, but I could use a little more ‘Joe Hill’ spooky vibes to really satisfy a ‘horror’ labeling. If you love a good suspense novel or every psychological thrillers you’ll really enjoy this.

Love it! Very good narrators, I liked multiple readers specially when book have multiple narratives.
The story was really good with all the twists and turns. It starts with a teenage boy, Paul being driven by his mom to the police station to be question regarding a murder. Fast action and few interesting surprises. I had to listen all the way to the end.


*I received a copy of this audiobook from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for a fair review.

After having an excellent reading experience with The Whisper Man last year, my expectations for his newest story The Shadows were high. The blurb sounded both thrilling and creepy, and I've been looking forward to read this story ever since I first heard about it... And I can say that my expectations were more than met. What a delightfully creepy and engaging read! Fans of well written thrillers with that psychological horror vibe will be in for a treat.

While I have to say that I'm an audiobook newbie, I think I picked the right book to give them another chance. This dark and atmospheric story managed to grab me from the start, and that sense of foreboding and danger kept me interested the whole time. The story is narrated by Hannah Arterton and John Heffernan; each tackling one of the two POVs of The Shadows. One of my main issues with audiobooks in the past was that I was never able to connect to the narrator's voices, but I had no such issue here. I felt that both narrators did an excellent job giving a voice to main characters Amanda and Paul, and they really made the characters come alive for me. I think their voices fitted the characters very well, and I liked the pace and flow of the story throughout. The only bit of the audio that bothered me a bit was the chapter where Amanda was reading about the forum as it didn't flow as naturally, but that might just have been me...

>>> I do have to say I had some issues with the Netgalley Shelf App; it seemed to skip certain chapters while listening and it didn't remember the place where I stopped correctly each time I took a break. This of course has nothing to do with the audiobook itself and I didn't take it in account when rating and reviewing The Shadows, but it could get confusing and sometimes even frustrating trying to hunt down those missing chapters. I'm not sure if it was my phone or the app, but I do hope my next audiobook won't do the same thing! <<<

As for The Shadows itself: I absolutely loved the idea behind the premise as well as the execution and the building up of suspense. The hint at the supernatural, the psychological horror vibe, the idea behind the dream diaries... The mystery around what happened 25 years ago as well as what happens in the present really gave the story that edge. The story is told with the help of a dual POV, where we switch between detective Amanda Beck and Paul. On top of this, Paul's POV divided between flashbacks to 25 years ago and the present... The flashbacks both helping to clear up questions about the past as well as adding suspense and that sense of foreboding in the present. I enjoyed each storyline equally, as they all completemented each other and slowly merged into one. There were some well executed plot twists along the way as well, and I definitely liked the direction the story took.

The characters in play are without doubt intriguing; they are well developed, flawed and very interesting to read about. Sure, they might not all be exactly likeable, but their background and stories will keep you invested and I personally couldn't wait to discover the truth about it all. The psychological horror element is very well done, and I loved how everything was explained in the end. I had a brilliant time listening to The Shadows and I'm really tempted to revisit the story on my kindle in the future.

This was a fantastic thriller, and the audiobook was top notch—both the male and female narrators were excellent! Listening to British crime novels on audiobook is my favorite, because the accents really bring the story to life. I loved the slow buildup that carefully revealed how the events of the past were colliding with the crime of the present. Highly recommended! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook preview!

I gave this book 3 stars. I liked what I read but didn’t necessarily love it. I had a difficult time getting into it because I was trying to keep track of all that was going on. I found myself going back to reread material to make sure I read correctly. North does an excellent job of keeping you on edge. Some things seemed a bit rushed but I eventually got it. I look forward to seeing what’s next.

*received the audiobook for free from netgalley for honest review* The book itself wasn't bad but the download was really messing up so tbh I don't even know If I read it all bc I got lost on some parts and idk if I really read the end of it so ill probably reread it when I can get my hands on it and hopefully itll make more sense

I could not put this book down! The story was original and I really loved the creepy "world-building" and the history of the crime as presented to the readers.

Throughout the book, my heart broke for Paul. Having to come back to the place where he experienced being accused of this murder to care for his ailing mother is unimaginable but to then go through a copycat situation again is truly terrible.

This was an excellent thriller! I have never read any other books by this author but I look forward to checking out his other works.

This is the first time I’ve listened to an audiobook and it was a great choice. It is narrated by a male and female both with British accents, which is perfect as that is where the story takes place. Alex has another great novel in The Shadows. The story jumps from now to then to give you some of the back context. It keeps you guessing the whole time and keeps you listening. He also makes a reference to The Whisperman, which was his earlier work. A warning though, the male character dies like to use the “f**k” word a lot when he was a child which might turn some people off. I felt with the British narrators it made the story come alive more. I give it 5/5
#theshadows #netgalley #audiobook #indigoemployee

Oh I LOVED the narration but I don't know how to talk about the story without spoilers! Reviewing thrillers is always so hard. But if you like discovering secrets and examining the dark horrors of past trauma, this book has that in spades.

I am a huge fan of audiobooks and this was released for download at the perfect time as I had just received the hard cover from my Book of the Month subscription. This was well-narrated with clear speakers. It was a little hard to follow as the chapters did not line up with the audio tracks.
Thank you to Netgalley for this audiobook!

A wonderfully creepy story that grabbed me from the first sentence - The Shadows is not only a brilliant follow up to the Whisper Man, it far surpasses it. For lovers of Stephen King, this book shows exactly how talented Alex North is.

I was completely hooked throughout this book, the characters are sympathetic and multifaceted, with the duel time line and the two narrators flowing together well. It is easy to follow what is going on throughout, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in this book.

The suspense is throughout the book, and is handled really well. I was on the edge of my seat a number of times. The twists are also a highlight, with one causing me to have to stop the book in order to process it and its ramifications (even though I should have worked it out, Alex North did incredibly well with this one). I also found that I was not disappointed with the reveal (which is something that I commented on for the Whisper Man) with the who and the why not only being believable but a good resolution (even though I didn't solve it, I did not feel cheated).

I am really grateful that I got access to this book, it has been a while since a thriller has been able to move me in the way that this one did. Would definitely recommend